The Natural Child Learning Community

The Colossal Spring Report

I can't tell you how much I have missed chatting about our days here. I'm sorry this post is so very late. And now, I can tell you, that I feel completely overwhelmed by trying to sum up the many weeks! 

There are a ton of photos in this post and I think the best way to go about talking about our spring is to dive in!  Come see a bit of what the children and I have been up too!  

Oh, I've also inserted links to a couple of books and songs lyrics that we've enjoyed over the last two months. 

Bird Watching

We've been bird watching! There are so many interesting feathered friends singing and visiting us every day. Just within the last week or so we've seen cardinals, warblers, bluejays, finches, mockingbirds, wrens, doves, and probably many more which I don't know the names of.  This pamphlet has been so handy in helping to identify our backyard birds. I love that the species listed are specific to our region - and that it's laminated - and that I can tuck it into my basket or bag easily when we go for walks. 

See that pretty little Carolina Wren. Isn't s(he) adorable (there are two of them). We were able to watch our pair build a nest in this little house which is situated on the beam of our screen porch/classroom. Everyday, we see the male wren fly out of the bird house onto the same limb in the same tree where he sings his heart out. Also, the wrens get very upset if and when the chickens get out of their run and wonder near the classroom. A couple of times, we've heard loud chirping, gone out to see what the fuss was all about, and discovered that the chickens were in their territory. As soon as the hens are escorted back to their area, the ruckus settles down. 

I'm thinking there must be a clutch of eggs in the nest by now. I wonder if we will hear baby birdie chirps soon? 

The nest below belongs to a pair of mockingbirds. It was interesting to observe the different types of materials the two species of birds collected to make their nests. The wrens used the tiniest of twigs, hay, yarn (that we've had out for nest-building since January), bits of plastic litter, and such. We noticed the mockingbirds using much larger twigs to make what looks to be a sturdy nest. 

Last week, we conducted an experiment to determine why different birds have different beak shapes. How interesting.  Some tools (beaks) were obviously suited for particular foods but others, we thought, might be good at finding more than one type of food. I think the experimented definitely succeeded at planting a seed of curiosity about understanding bird behavior. I know it did so for me!! 

Some of our favorite bird books have been:

All About Birds

An Egg is Quiet -- Which isn't specific to birds, but it's still a lovely read, especially during the spring. 

 We love singing and acting out this little tune by Elizabeth Mitchell.

The little bird hops throught the bright, green, grass and the bright, green, grass grows high.

The little bird hops throught the bright, green, grass and the little bird sings oh my.

Oh my, oh my, the little bird sings oh my.

The little bird sits in a strawy nest and the strawy nest sits still.

The little bird sits in a strawy nest and the little bird sings oh well.

Oh well, oh well, the little bird sings oh well.

The little bird flies through the bright, blue sky and the bright, blue sky floats by.

The little bird flies throught the bright blue sky and the little bird says bye-bye.

Bye-bye, bye-bye, the little bird sings bye-bye. 

The Garden

Everyone has been very involved in our garden this season!  It's a joy to be around a group of children who truly love being out and about in nature. Their curiosity and eagerness fills me up with joy and hope for our future and all things pure and beautiful.

This spring, we've planted tomatoes, eggplant, pumpkin, squash, cucumbers, and beans.  So far, everything is growing, growing, growing. When the children water, they automatically ask to mix the water with molasses because they've seen me do it and know it helps to make the soil healthy.  With any garden comes garden friends and foes. We've seen lots of snails, ladybugs, aphids, honeybees, butterflies, and several other unidentified critters!  That little corner of our yard is booming with life of all sorts! One of my goals is to increase my insect knowledge so that we can better understand the why's and how's to successful gardening.

We've loved this little book because it mirrors our own garden so nicely. 

 

And this has been a fun

Download 06 Growing Song

Growing Butterflies

About a month ago, I was at the market and noticed a bundle of fennel for sale with tiny swallotail caterpillers growing. I bought the bundle so that we could watch the caterpillers eat and grow and eventually turn to butterflies. Below are couple of photos documenting the process. Once the caterpillars were close to being full size, I placed the jar in the butterfly habitat because when a caterpillar is ready to make a chrysallis it travels far away from it's host plant (unless held captive...). We got to watch the the swallowtails morph into their chrysallises. Unfortunately, the butterflies emerged on a Friday and a Saturday when the children weren't here to see them. My daughter, husband, and I released them. They were so beautiful. I was sad the other children didn't get to witness the miracle!! 

We have spotted a monarch chrysallis outside in the garden. I'm hoping that the stars align just right, and that the children get to witness it emerge as a beautiful butterfly! 

A Butterfly is Patient

 

Waiting For Wings

The Backyard

The backyard is home to so much adventure and play! From construction work sites and long journeys by horse and buggy to school days, dance classes, restaurant and mommy and daddy play. I'm amazed by the amount of creativity a sand box, a wagon, shovels, buckets, hay, leaves, and other bits and bobs from nature can inspire when four children get involved. So much purposefulness. So much digging, and mixing, and pouring, and cleaning, and tending and negotiating. So much real life based imaginative play. When any of them are feeling off-kilter, nothing aides in balancing the mood better than heading out to the backyard. 

Texas Wildflowers

April was Texas Wildflower Month! Specimens of different types of wildflowers were kept on our nature shelf or inside (during windy times). We are still collecting specimens of wildflowers that begin to thrive when the weather warms up.  There are so many to admire!  Today as we did a litter/nature walk in the meadow across the street, the children delighted in seeing so many different species: evening primrose, verbena, Texas firewheels, and butterweed were all abundant.

Our spring has been breath-taking -- one we must always remember, especially during the hard years when the temperatures soar and the rain clouds forget about us.  

 Our favorite books about wildflowers can be seen in this photo below:

Baby Chicks Are A Coming (We Hope)

We started the incubating process of hatching chicks a few weeks ago.The agricultural extension agency for our county loans incubators and donates eggs to schools and families who are interested in learning more about the process. We were given a dozen of fertile eggs. Sadly, none of the eggs hatched. A few were not fertile, the others did not make it. We are trying one more time...Wish us luck!

Chickens Aren't the Only Ones

Chicks and Chickens

The Lifecycle of a Chicken

Photos of inside work and play.

Impromptu lesson on the parts of a flower...

Bean and seed collage...

Embroidery...

"It's an eye, Ms. Nichole."smiley silly children...

In case you are wondering about the coloring book.... It belongs to my daughter and every now and then, when she feels like it, she likes to take it out during school time (along with her very own pencils and crayons). I gladly let her as I know it isn't always easy to be four, to share your mama, and your home with others three days a week. Having a chance to use "her" stuff, I think, helps her to feel like her home is her home -- always. And by the way, this coloring book is out of this world fun... 

 Cylinder block matching game... 

It was a dark, rainy day. We had lunch by candlelight.  They were saying the blessing. 

Buidling blocks have been a huge hit!

Her baby took a nap while she practiced her counting. 

Preparing snack for the day...

Whew... well that was a lot to report on. Spring has been so fun and busy and so full of life blossoming and growing in every direction we look. 

There's a lot inspiring work being done by the children in the past few weeks. From geography to botany, from writing first letters, words and songs to washing and juicing, from mopping and multiplying to disecting flowers - the classroom is abuzz with activity these days. 

Highlights of the past two weeks:

• planting bean seeds to care for, watch grow, and then take home to transplant.
• reading The Mountains of Tibet. The children loved this story of a little boy who liked to fly kites and who had great dreams to travel the world.
• the abundance of beautiful flowers in the classroom: tulips, daisies, and another round of wildflower specimens make for a very uplifting nature shelf as well as lovely flower arrangements on each table. 
• watching the children continuously (even in the last month of school) find more and more work that calls to their interests and capabilities. 
• delighted by their attentiveness in a group lesson on the parts of a flower. 

I can't believe we are already into our last month of school! Where did the time go??

Easter at The Natural Child

April was such a bright and cheerful month. Full of laughter and song, outdoor play and Easter preparations.  

This year, we prepared our Easter baskets two weeks in advance. Each child planted wheat grass in their basket. We watered it each day and watched it grow - very quickly! Simply amazing - so much more fun than stuffing the baskets with artificial grass.  

We felted little wool eggs to decorate our baskets. 

We dyed our hard boiled eggs by using beets, blueberries and tumeric root powder. 

Then finally, at last, we went a hunting for eggs hidden by the Easter bunny herself.  

What a sweet, sweet time spring is!

Seeds, Gardening, Springtime Love

With warmer days upon us now, our daily rhythm has shifted to include more time spent outdoors. The month of March has been filled with planting, watering, and caring for our garden. Each day as we head out to the garden, the little ones cheer with delight to find new seeds sprouting, new leaves budding, new flowers blooming. Our modest little garden courtyard is teeming with new life. As we work along side of one another, we hear a multitude of birds singing, wind chimes ringing, a soft breeze blowing, and sunshine keeping us warm. 

Right now we have carrots, radishes, potatoes, beans, sunflowers,zinnias, pansies, cucumbers, herbs, and onions growing steadily.  

As we've done so much planting and transplanting, we have all come to love one of our favorite springtime resources, Seeds by Ken Robbins. Robbins does a truly astounding job of photographing seeds and plants of all sorts.  He writes in simple language that engages even the youngest little ones, but with a great amount of depth about the different types of seeds and their unique abilities to germinate. The children and I love this book as it offers a wonderful backspring to discussing the parts of the plant and the life cycle of different types.  It's fun to listen to lunchtime conversation steer back to group time lessons. "Your avocado has a pit."  "My watermelon seeds are not pits."  "Your eating the leaves and I'm eating a root."  In addition to the planting going on outdoors, we've also begun to experiment in sprouting seeds and shoots on our windowsill Right now, we're watching carefully for the avocado pit to sprout into a plant, a sweet potato to vine, and wheat berries to sprout. 

Springtime is such a delightful time of the year to be alive and outdoors with little children. The newness and freshness of the world around us is breathtaking.  Simple pleasures: tiny oak trees growing from lodged acorns, dandelions, red bud blossoms, ladybugs, sunflowers seedlings - each living miracle sends the children into an flurry of enthusiastic thrill! 

We will continue to celebrate spring in the upcoming weeks as we prepare for our field trip to the farm. I think we are all thrilled with the prospects of baby farm animals, hayrides, and gardens galore.  We'll also spend time in the upcoming weeks appreciating the many gifts that our natural world provides for us. We'll be carding wool, learning to felt Easter eggs, slicing fresh, homegrown (from my backyard hens, yay!) boiled eggs, growing wheat grass for our Easter egg baskets, and welcoming a spinner to our place for a demonstration on how wool is spun into yarn.  

Don't forget to check out the sidebars for a list of fun songs, books, and poems about Easter and springtime.  

Also, for more photos from The Natural Child, please visit the flickr group and set.  One day, I'll find the time to sit down and consolidate the two pages and make sure all of the photos are in one space.  Until then...would you mind checking both places?